Heart attack victim says he had visit from angel

DARBY BOROUGH -- The man with short, reddish brown hair and a ruddy complexion sat in the corner of the hospital room as he leaned on top of a sword.

"I'm like, 'OK, who is this guy?'" said Bill Pitts, a 64-year-old borough resident. "I woke up and it was in the middle of the night and this guy's sitting in the chair. And, I said, 'Who are you?'"

"St. Michael the Archangel," Pitts said he responded.

"I'm Bill Pitts," the tow truck driver said.

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Then, according to Pitts, his visitor told him, "You've got a lot more battles to fight, old man. We're sending you back."

And, because of that interaction, Pitts wears a St. Michael's medal around his neck four months after he had a heart attack, was revived by paramedics and underwent quintuple bypass surgery at Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital.

Yet, even though he had this angelic moment, he didn't have any other side encounters with anybody he knew.

"No, I didn't see Grandmom or nothing," Pitts said. "I was looking for her. No mother, no father."

Pitts' experience began May 4 while on a call for Darby Borough police.

"I was turning from Main Street onto Chester Pike and I felt a little light headed," he said. "I took a few deep breaths, next thing I know it was five days later."

Dr. Steven Weiss, Pitts' cardiac surgeon, explained, "He dropped dead on the wheel of his car and crashed into a telephone pole."

Near the Darby Fire Company No. 1, responders were headed to another call when they took action, resuscitating him on the way to Mercy Fitzgerald.

Ann Marie Pitts, Bill's wife of 43 years, was brought to the hospital by their son.

"I got to the hospital and I took one look at him and I thought he was gone already, that they just had him on life support to save us time."

But, after speaking to medical personnel, the 63-year-old changed her mind.

"He's not gone," she said. "They've got a game plan. There's still hope."

Pitts was in a chemically induced coma for about five days and that included 48 hours of therapeutic hypothermia, which allows for organ and neurological preservation following a heart attack.

Then, he had the bypass surgery as Pitts himself said two of his arteries were 100 percent blocked, two were 90 percent blocked and the fifth was 70 percent blocked.

"Everything went how it's supposed to go," Weiss said. "We're really happy to see him doing this well."

So, now, Pitts continues with his cardiac therapy and has gone from 293 pounds in May to 248 pounds.

Unable to walk up the hospital ramp previously, he can now ride a bicycle for seven minutes and is looking forward to riding the boards in Wildwood, N.J., where he and Ann Marie are going to celebrate their 43rd anniversary during Irish Weekend.